Identifying evidence for hunter-gatherers in the palaeoenvironmental record is far from simple. Despite decades of research, few studies have demonstrated unambiguous palynological evidence of hunter-gatherers. This paper presents the results of high-resolution palaeoecological analyses of a peat sequence located within the vicinity of the pre-historic Yup’ik village of Nunalleq in southwestern Alaska. The aim of this research was to examine whether there are any discernible palaeoenvironmental impacts associated with the 15th–17th century occupation of the site. Presuming an ephemeral character to any palaeoecological signal, this study selected a sampling location approximately 30 m east of the limit of archaeological remains. Pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs and microscopic charcoal analysis were then used to generate a highly resolved (contiguous 1 cm) environmental history for the site. The results are striking and indicate that the activities of prehistoric Yup’ik hunter-gatherers at Nunalleq did leave a clear material trace in the palaeoenvironmental record. Through the application of high-resolution Pb210 and C14 dating and Bayesian modelling, these impacts were found to be concurrent with the occupation of the archaeological site. These findings suggest that not only can circumpolar hunter-gatherers leave a material palaeoenvironmental trace but that these traces may be used to accurately date such site activity in lieu of excavation.
ApplebyPG (2001) Chronostratigraphic techniques in recent sediments. In: LastWMSmolJP (eds) Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments. Volume 1: Basin Analysis, Coring and Chronological Techniques. Dordrecht: Kluwer, pp. 171–204.
2.
ApplebyPGOldfieldF (1978) The calculation of Pb-210 dates assuming a constant rate of supply of unsupported Pb-210 to the sediment. Catena5: 1–8.
3.
ApplebyPGNolanPJOldfieldFet al. (1988) 210Pb dating of lake sediments and ombrotrophic peats by gamma essay. Science of the Total Environment69: 157–177.
4.
BakerAGBhagwatSAWillisKJ (2013) Do fungal spore make a good proxy for past distribution of large herbivores?Quaternary Science Reviews62: 21–31.
5.
BathurstR (2005) Archaeological evidence of intestinal parasites from coastal shell middens. Journal of Archaeological Science32: 115–123.
6.
BehlingHStreetM (1999) Palaeoecological studies at the Mesolithic site Bedburg-Königshoven near Cologne, Germany. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany8: 273–285.
7.
BehreK-E (1981) The interpretation of anthropogenic indicators in pollen diagrams. Pollen et Spores23: 225–245.
8.
BennettBCAlarcónR (2015) Hunting and hallucinogens: The use of psychoactive and other plants to improve the hunting ability of dogs. Journal of Ethnopharmacology171: 171–183.
BennettKDWhittingtonGEdwardsKJ (1994) Recent plant morphological changes and pollen morphology in the British Isles. Quaternary Newsletter73: 1–6.
11.
BhiryNMarguerieDLofthouseS (2016) Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction and timeline of a Dorset-Thule settlement at Quaqtaq (Nunavik, Canada). Geoarchaeology48: 293–313.
12.
BhiryNPayetteSRobertEC (2007) Peatland development at the Arctic tree line (Québec, Canada) influenced by flooding and permafrost. Quaternary Research67: 426–437.
13.
BieniekPABhattUSThomanRLet al. (2012) Climate divisions for Alaska based on objective methods. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology51: 1276–1289.
14.
BlaauwMChristenJA (2011) Flexible paleoclimate age-depth models using an autoregressive gamma process. Bayesian Analysis6: 457–474.
15.
BlondeauMRoyC (2004) Atlas of Plants of the Nunavik Villages. Sainte-Foy: MultiMondes.
16.
BoggsKBoucherTVKuoTTet al. (2014) Vegetation map and classification: Northern western and interior Alaska, 2014 update. Report, Alaska Natural Heritage Program. Anchorage: University of Alaska Anchorage.
17.
BosJAAJanssenCR (1996) Local impact of Palaeolithic man on the environment during the end of the last glacial in the Netherlands. Journal of Archaeological Science23: 731–739.
18.
BosJAAUrzR (2003) Late glacial and early Holocene environment in the middle Lahn river valley (Hessen, central-west Germany) and the local impact of early Mesolithic people– pollen macrofossil evidence. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany12: 19–36.
19.
BrittonKKnechtRNehlichOet al. (2013) Maritime adaptations and dietary variation in prehistoric Western Alaska: Stable isotope analysis of permafrost-preserved human hair. American Journal of Physical Anthropology151: 448–461.
20.
BrittonKMcManus-FryENehlichOet al. (2016) Stable carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotope analysis of permafrost preserved human hair from rescue excavations (2009, 2010) at the precontact site of Nunalleq, Alaska. Journal of Archaeological Science. Epub ahead of print 10June. DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.04.015.
21.
DavisMB (2000) Palynology after Y2K – Understanding the source area of pollen in sediments. Annual Review Earth Planetary Sciences28: 1–18.
22.
DeeveyERiceDSRicePMet al. (1979) Mayan urbanism: Impact on a tropical karst environment. Science206: 298–306.
23.
DenevanWM (1992) The pristine myth: The landscape of the Americas in 1492. Annals of the Association of American Geographers82: 369–385.
24.
DumondDE (1987) The Eskimos and Aleuts. Revised Edition. London: Thames & Hudson.
25.
EdwardsKJ (1990) Fire and the Scottish Mesolithic: Evidence from microscopic charcoal. In: VermeerschPMVan PeerP (eds) Contributions to the Mesolithic in Europe. Leuven: Leuven University Press, pp. 71–79.
26.
EdwardsKJ (1995) A Mesolithic of the Western and Northern Isles of Scotland? Evidence from pollen and charcoal. In: PollardTMorrisonA (eds) The Early Prehistory of Scotland. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 23–38.
27.
EdwardsKJ (1998) Detection of human impact on the natural environment: Palynological views. In: BayleyJ (ed.) Science in Archaeology an Agenda for the Future. London: English Heritage, pp. 69–88.
28.
EdwardsKJSugdenH (2003) Palynological visibility and the Mesolithic colonisation of the Hebrides, Scotland. In: LarssonLKindgrenHKnutssonKet al. (eds) Mesolithic on the Move: Papers Presented at the Sixth International Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe. Stockholm: Oxbow Books, pp. 11–19.
29.
EdwardsKJErlendssonESchofieldJE (2011) Is there a Norse ‘footprint’ in North Atlantic pollen records? In: SigmundssonSHoltASigurðssonGet al. (eds) Viking Settlements and Society: Papers from the Sixteenth Viking Congress, Reykjavík and Reykholt, 16–23 August 2009. Reykjavík: Hið íslenska fornleifafélag and University of Iceland Press, pp. 65–82.
30.
Fienup-RiordanAReardenA (2016) Anguyiim Nalliini/Time of Warring: The History of the Bow and Arrow Wars in Southwest Alaska. Anchorage: University of Alaska Press.
31.
ForbesBC (1992) Tundra disturbance studies. I. Long-term effects of vehicles on species richness and biomass. Environmental Conservation19: 48–58.
32.
ForbesBC (1996) Plant communities of archaeological sites, abandoned dwellings, and trampled tundra in the eastern Canadian Arctic: A multivariate analysis. Arctic49: 141–154.
33.
ForbesVBrittonKKnechtR (2015) Preliminary archaeoentomological analyses of permafrost-preserved cultural layers from the pre-contact Yup’ik Eskimo site of Nunalleq, Alaska: Implications, potential and methodological considerations. Environmental Archaeology20: 158–167.
34.
FredskildB (1961) Floristic and ecological studies near Jakobshavn, West Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland163: 1–82.
35.
FredskildB (1988) Agriculture in a marginal area – South Greenland from the Norse landnám (985 AD) to present (1985 AD). In: BirksHHBirksHJBKalandPEet al. (eds) The Cultural Landscape: Past, Present & Future. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 381–393.
36.
GrimmEC (1987) CONISS: A FORTRAN 77 program for stratigraphically constrained cluster analysis by the method of incremental sum of squares. Computers & Geoscience13: 13–35.
37.
GrimmEC (1993) TILIA: A Program for Analysis and Display. Springfield: Illinois State Museum.
HicksS (1993) Pollen evidence of localized impact on the vegetation of northernmost Finland by hunter-gatherers. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany2: 137–144.
40.
HolmqvistJRFinkelsteinSAGarneauMet al. (2016) A comparison of radiocarbon ages derived from bulk peat and selected plant macrofossils in basal peat cores from circum-arctic peatlands. Quaternary Geochronology31: 53–61.
41.
HornbergGBohlinEHellbergEet al. (2006) Effects of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers on local vegetation in a non-uniform glacio-isostatic land uplift area, northern Sweden. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany15: 13–26.
42.
HuFBrubakerL (1996) Boreal ecosystem development in the Northwestern Alaska range since 11,000 yr B.P. Quaternary Research45: 188–201.
43.
HuFBrubakerLAndersonPM (1995) Postglacial vegetation and climate change in the northern Bristol Bay region, southwestern Alaska. Quaternary Research43: 382–392.
44.
HuFItoIBrownTAet al. (2001) Pronounced climate variations in Alaska during the last two millennia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences98: 10552–10556.
45.
HulténE (1968) Flora of Alaska and Neighbouring Territories. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
46.
InnesJBBlackfordJJ (2003) The ecology of the late Mesolithic woodland disturbances; model testing with fungal spore assemblage data. Journal of Archaeological Science30: 185–194.
47.
IversenJ (1941) Landnam i Danmarks Stenalder: En pollenanalytisk Undersøgelse over det første Landbrugs Indvirkning paa Vegetationsudviklingen. Danmarks Geologiske Undersøgelse II.række66: 1–68.
48.
IversenJ (1956) Forest clearance in the stone age. Scientific American194: 36–41.
49.
JorgensonTYoshikawaKKanevskiyMet al. (2008) Permafrost characteristics of Alaska. Report, Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK.
50.
KanevskiyMJorgensonTShurYet al. (2014) Cryostratigraphy and permafrost evolution in the lacustrine lowlands of West-Central Alaska. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes25: 14–34.
51.
KeeleyJE (2002) Native American impacts on fire regimes of the California coastal ranges. Journal of Biogeography29: 303–320.
52.
KnechtRA (1995) The late prehistory of the Alutiiq people: Culture change on the Kodiak Archipelago from 1200–1750 A.D. PhD Thesis, Bryn Mawr College.
53.
KulttiSOksanenPVälirantaM (2004) Holocene tree line, permafrost, and climate dynamics in the Nenets Region, East European Arctic. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences41: 1141–1158.
54.
KunešPPokornýPŠídaP (2008) Detection of the impact of early Holocene hunter-gatherers on vegetation in the Czech Republic, using multivariate analysis of pollen data. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany17: 269–287.
55.
KuoppamaaMHickSGoslarT (2009) Pollen accumulation rates as tools for detecting land-use changes in sparsely settled boreal forest. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany18: 205–217.
56.
LedgerPMEdwardsKJSchofieldJE (2014a) A multiple profile approach to palynological reconstruction of Norse landscapes in Greenland’s Eastern Settlement. Quaternary Research82: 22–37.
57.
LedgerPMEdwardsKJSchofieldJE (2014b) Vatnahverfi: A green and pleasant land? Palaeoecological reconstructions of environmental and land-use change. Journal of the North Atlantic Special6: 29–46.
58.
LedgerPMEdwardsKJSchofieldJE (2015) Taphonomy of signal sensitivity in palaeoecological investigations of Norse landnám in Vatnahverfi, southern Greenland?Boreas44: 197–215.
59.
LedgerPMForbesVMasson-MacleanEet al. (2016) Dating and digging stratified archaeology in circumpolar North America: A view from Nunalleq, southwestern Alaska. Arctic69: 378–390.
60.
LepšJŠmilauerP (2003) Multivariate Analysis of Ecological Data using CANOCO. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
61.
LiXShangXDodsonJet al. (2009) Holocene agriculture in the Guangzhou basin in NW China indicated by pollen and charcoal evidence. The Holocene19: 1213–1220.
62.
McManus-FryEKnechtRDobneyKet al. (2016) Dog-human dietary relationships in Yup’ik western Alaska: The stable isotope and zooarchaeological evidence from pre-contact Nunalleq. Journal of Archaeological Science. Epub ahead of print 29April. DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.04.007.
63.
MirasYBeaugerALavriuexMet al. (2015) Tracking long-term human impacts on landscape, vegetal biodiversity and water quality in the Lake Aydat catchment (Auvergne, France) using pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs and diatom assemblages. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology42: 76–90.
NakagawaTBrugiapagliaEDigerfeltGet al. (1998) Dense-media separation as a more efficient pollen extraction method for use with organic sediment/deposit samples: Comparison with the conventional method. Boreas27: 15–24.
66.
NelsonEW (1899) The Eskimo about Bering Strait. Washington, DC: The Library of Congress.
67.
OliverJ (2007) Beyond the water’s edge: Towards a social archaeology of landscape on the northwest coast. Canadian Journal of Archaeology31: 1–27.
68.
OswaldWWAndersonPMBrownTAet al. (2005) Effects of sample mass and macrofossil type on radiocarbon dating of Arctic and boreal lake sediments. The Holocene15: 758–767.
69.
OswaltWH (1992) Bashful No Longer: And Alaskan Eskimo Ethnohistory, 1778–1988. Norman: University of Oklahoma press.
70.
OverpeckJHughenKHardyDet al. (1997) Arctic environmental change of the last four centuries. Science278: 1251–1256.
71.
PorsildMP (1932) Alien plants and apophytes of Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland92: 1–85.
72.
PrattVE (1989) Field Guide to Alaskan Wildflowers Commonly Seen along the Highways and Byways. Anchorage: Alaska Print Brokers.
73.
Ralska-JasiewiczowaRVan GeelB (1992) Early human disturbance of the natural environment recorded in annually laminated sediments of Lake Gosciaz, central Poland. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany1: 33–42.
74.
ReimerPJBardEBaylissAet al. (2013) INTCAL13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon55: 1869–1887.
75.
RenouffMAPBellTMacphersonJ (2009) Hunter-gatherer impact on subarctic vegetation: Amerindian and Palaeoeskimo occupations of Port au Choix, northwestern Newfoundland. Arctic Anthropology46: 176–190.
76.
RoyNBhiryNWoollettJ (2012) Environmental change and terrestrial resource use by the Thule and Inuit of Labrador, Canada. Geoarchaeology27: 18–33.
77.
RoyNWoollettJBhiryN (2015) Paleoecological perspectives on landscape history and anthropogenic impacts at Uivak Point, Labrador, since AD 1400. The Holocene25: 1–14.
78.
SchofieldJEEdwardsKJChristensenC (2008) Environmental impacts around the time of Norse landnam in the Qorlortoq valley, Eastern Settlement, Greenland. Journal of Archaeological Science35: 1643–1657.
79.
SchofieldJEEdwardsKJErlendssonEet al. (2013) Palynology supports ‘Old Norse’ introductions to the flora of Greenland. Journal of Biogeography40: 1119–1130.
80.
SmithAGWhittleACloutmanEWet al. (1989) Mesolithic and Neolithic activity and environmental impact on the south-east fen edge in Cambridgeshire. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society55: 207–249.
81.
SNAP (2016) Average monthly temperature data for Quinhagak, Alaska. Available at: https://www.snap.uaf.edu/
82.
StockmarrJ (1971) Tablets with spores used in absolute pollen analysis. Pollen et Spores13: 615–621.
83.
SuedaKLCHartBLCliffKD (2008) Characterisation of plant eating in dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science111: 120–132.
84.
SugitaSGaillardMJBroströmA (1999) Landscape openness and pollen records: A simulation approach. The Holocene9: 409–421.
85.
Ter BraakCJFŠmilauerP (2002) CANOCO reference manual and CanoDraw for Windows user’s guide: Software for canonical community ordination (version 4.5), section on permutation methods. Microcomputer Power500–502.
86.
TreatCCJonesMCCamillPet al. (2016) Effects of permafrost aggradation on peat properties as determined from a pan-Arctic synthesis of plant macrofossils. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences121: 78–94.
87.
Van GeelBBuurmanJBrinkkemperOet al. (2003) Environmental reconstruction of a Roman Period settlement site in Uitgeest (The Netherlands), with special reference to coprophilous fungi. Journal of Archaeological Science30: 873–883.
88.
WallbrinkPJWallingDEHeQ (2002) Radionuclide measurement using Hpge Gamma Spectrometry. In: ZapataF (ed.) Handbook for the Assessment of Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Using Environmental Radionuclides. Dordrecht: Kluwer, pp. 67–96.
89.
WardGKWilsonSR (1978) Procedures for comparing and combining radiocarbon age determinations: A critique. Archaeometry20: 19–31.
90.
WhitneyBSDickauRMayleFEet al. (2014) Pre-Columbian raised-field agriculture and land use in the Bolivian Amazon. The Holocene24: 231–241.
91.
WilsonFHHultsCPMullCGet al. (2015) Geologic map of Alaska. U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 3340, 197 pp., 2 sheets, scale 1:584,000. Available at: https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/sim3340
92.
WoeldersLBosJAAde KortJ-Wet al. (2016) Early Holocene environmental change and the presence of Mesolithic people in the Tungelroyse Beek valley near Mildert, the Netherlands. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany25: 177–189.
